Europe

Hypo Noe considerably narrowed the new issue concession for its €500m 10 year covered bond compared to previous deals when it issued on Wednesday. However, it did not achieve its spread ambition, as investors left the order book.

BayernLB launched its first green tier two in euros on Wednesday, bringing its pricing into a very tight level and challenging assumptions about the relative value of the German tier two market.

German fashion e-commerce company About You has traded up on its first day on the Frankfurt stock exchange bringing some cheer to a European IPO market which has been battered of late. However, UK e-retailer Made fell in trading after pricing its IPO suggesting the market as a whole can still be volatile.

Emerging market investors appeared calm but hopeful as Russian president Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Joe Biden prepared to meet in Geneva on Wednesday. It is hoped that the summit will quell tensions between the two countries.

Helios Towers, the London-listed telecoms towers company focused on the Middle East and Africa, has completed a $160m capital raising, including a $50m tap of its outstanding 2027 convertible bond.

HSBC Asset Management is unifying its alternatives businesses, creating a single 150-strong team led by Joanna Munro, previously the firm’s global chief investment officer, in London.

The largest institutional investors in the private placement market have the cash and, increasingly, the origination capabilities to draw companies into bilateral and club trades. If these whales can show companies there is no pricing pick-up over syndicated deals, the broader market is bound to lose ground.

A trio of senior bankers from Credit Suisse’s European financial institutions group (FIG) have followed the team’s European head to Jefferies.

Confidence in the rates and covered bond secondary markets improved on Tuesday in the wake of a strong performance in the EU’s debut Next Gen deal, despite an initial wobble when the deal weighed in at €20bn, which was larger than expected.

Europe’s equity capital markets bankers are expressing concern that deals they’re working on now will be damaged if the re-opening of the continent’s economies is reversed in the autumn. But new research on Covid-19 and last year’s pattern of infections shows they’re right to be nervous.

Turkey's Akbank launched a dollar sustainable bond on Tuesday, just months after it raised its first ESG-linked syndicated loan.

Criteria Caixa, the holding company which manages the assets of Spain’s La Caixa Banking Foundation, has issued a €200m bond exchangeable into shares in Cellnex, the telecoms towers company.